Parallelism
by lemonygoodness1998
Summary: When Reaper is dropped into her favorite anime, Attack on Titan, her whole world is turned upside down. Suddenly she is in the middle of a sarcasm battle with the Corporal, she is thrown in a dungeon, and she is scheduled for execution. Can she survive while keeping her past, her home, and, most importantly, her abilities a secret?
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Zoralee's POV

_I swear to God I am going to kill all of these people,_ I thought as I made my way through the school halls. It was the first day of my last year of high school and I was about nine-thousand percent done with everyone's shit. The last of my friends had graduated the previous year, leaving me to "rule the school" alone. But I was far from ruling it; instead, I kept my head down and hurried to my new locker before setting about putting magnets on the inside of the door.

"Oh, hey there!" a voice giggled beside me. "It's Reaper!"

I turned to see a bubbly girl, Julie, who was an acquaintance of one of my friends. Even coming from her innocent mouth.

"Hi, Julie," I said with a polite smile. "I know it's only the first day back but could you _please_ not call me that?"

"What? Reaper?" she asked with a cocked head. I swore she had the IQ of a thumbtack.

"Yeah," I affirmed. "Just call me Zoralee. Or Zora, whichever." She giggled in response.

"Okay! I just never really new your real name! It's not that I was trying to offend you."

The first day of freshman year, being the new kid from out of town, nobody had known my name. So, instead of asking me, they referred to me by whatever clothing I wore. Just as now I had a habit of wearing all black, giving me the appearance of a grim reaper. But though most people meant no harm by the nickname, those who did mean harm by it made me think of "Reaper" as something akin to a swear word. I cringed when I heard the nickname spew from someone's mouth behind me.

"Reaper, are you actually being social this year?" someone mock gasped. I turned to face Hannah, the resident bleach-blonde bully that made my life hell.

"It's _Zoralee_," I corrected.

"Why so touchy today, Reaper?" She ignored my correction and moved to rest her chin on Julie's shoulder. "Upset that you don't have friends anymore? None that go to this school anymore, at least."

"Hannah!" Julie scolded her. "Don't be mean."

"Oh, I'm not being mean. It's all in good fun, now isn't it, Reaper?"

"It's in the same league of fun as arson and kicking puppies," I grumbled and slammed a few more magnets onto my door. She laughed a high-pitched, annoying laugh that I had grown to associate with humiliation.

"You're so clever, Reaper!" I gritted my teeth. She was repeating that god-awful nickname just to spite me. "So tell me – how was your summer? Did you lock yourself in your room and watch cartoons all the live-long day? Or did you just cry because nobody likes you?"

"I was starting to get really pissed now. This girl had been a sickly-sweet terrorist to me for the past three years, slowly but surely weeding out anyone who may have ever wanted to be in my social circle. I finally realized she must have befriended Julie, the only person in my grade who might make an effort to befriend me, in order to direct her away from me. The thought made those al-too-familiar embers flare up in the pit of my stomach and a magnet screech down the side of my door. Luckily the sound was drowned out by the sound of the morning bell.

"Oh dear," Hannah cooed to Julie. "It seems like we'll have to be leaving our _friend_ here, Julie. Come on, let's get to Spanish."

"You know," I said coolly, "I have Spanish this period, as well."

"Oh! Could I sit by –"

"Come on, slow-poke!" Hannah giggled at Julie. My bubbly acquaintance gave me an apologetic smile before heading to class ahead of the blonde.

"Oh, and by the way, Reaper," sneered the blonde in question, "I'm making it my personal duty to make sure you have the absolute _best_ senior year." With that she left.

I lagged behind to put as much distance between us as possible. _What a metaphor for my life_, I thought grimly before heading to my Spanish class.

The moment seven periods were over I rushed to the band hall as quickly as I could. When I finally reached my destination, I slumped against the door and exhaled a deep sigh.

"Well, hello there, Reaper," a male voice said from behind a stack of papers. I cringed at the nickname.

"Hello, Mr. Grimes," I said dejectedly. Even the teachers knew me as Reaper. Mr. Grimes peered around his papers to look at me.

"Why so glum?" he asked. I just shook my head and deposited my backpack on the choir risers. "I thought you might like to know that you're the only one who signed up for this period music."

"Let me guess," I scoffed at the ceiling. "A certain blonde had something to do with." Mr. Grimes sighed and took off his glasses.

"I know you're trying your hardest to be nice to her," he said, rubbing his lenses with the hem of his shirt," but, in all honesty, I think you may want to just row a backbone."

"I've got plenty of backbone," I sighed. "It's just better used in other areas of my life."

"Don't you want friends?" I shook my head.

"I don't need anyone. I have the Internet." I chuckled sadly at that last part.

"And this class," added Mr. Grimes. "I want this to be a safe place for you this school year. I'm not going to be giving you much in the way of graded assignments, so as long as you find some method of nonviolent self-expression in here, I'll give you an A/" I nodded my thanks and made my way to the guitar racks. Thoroughly examining the instruments I selected a pale acoustic and headed into a soundproof stall.

"Are you ever going to play for anyone?" my teacher asked me.

"Maybe. If I get good enough. I don't want to screw up and have it all over YouTube before the week's out."

"You've been playing the guitar ever since I got here two years ago."

"Longer," I corrected him.

"Even more reason."

"More reason for what?"

"More reason to think that all you lack in the guitar department is confidence," he explained with a slight smile on his lips. I tried to return the smile, but it just came out as a wonky grimace. I walked into the stall and locked the door.

"_Freakshow!_"

"_Emo!_"

"_Goth kid!_"

"_Reaper!_"

The whispered insults followed me through the hall, making my head spin. I _refused_ to lose control. Losing control would only mean trouble for me and even more for everyone else. It was only the fourth day of school and I was already at my breaking point.

I had been framed. Somebody, most likely that bitch, Hannah, had put drugs in my locker and framed me as a stoner. The cops had been called in and I was nearly expelled; it had taken almost an hour of pleading with the school board for Mr. Grimes to convince them to just give me a drug test, which I passed with flying colors. The administrators seemed to believe my story, but the smell of marijuana in my locker was still a testament to my unpopularity.

When I hopped into the shotgun seat of my mother's suburban she had a surprise for me.

"Hey, Zora," she smiled at me. I found myself forcing a smile back at her despite how crappy I felt. She reached into the back seat and pulled out a brown paper sack with the word "Reaper" written across the front. "One of your friends brought this to me to give to you. They couldn't seem to find you in the halls."

This couldn't be good.

Opening the sack, I was greeted by a Ziploc bag of black powder with the words "ashes to ashes" written across the white label. Underneath was a small folded piece of paper – a note, I assumed. How pleasant. Lifting the card to the brim of the bag to conceal it from my mother, I unfolded it and read the words neatly penned in black ink.

"You're worthless. Kill yourself."

_Harsh_.

"What's in there, Zora?" Mom asked sweetly. My mother, such a kind woman, deserved to be happy, but she could only be happy is I was as well. I faked another smile at her, something I had learned to do a long time ago. If making her happy meant that I had to conceal my pain, I would do it gladly.

"Oh, it's just some trash," I lied with a grin. "One of my friends and I are always pulling these little pranks on each other." My mother seemed to buy it, but her eyes remained worried.

"I heard you had to get a drug test yesterday, sweetie," she began.

"Nothing bad happened," I sighed. "Someone accidentally put their drugs in my locker so they had to make sure I hadn't been buying them."

"That's terrible!"

She didn't know the half of it.

When we finally arrived home I breathed a sigh of relief. Home was a large two-story farmhouse in the middle of the hilly countryside, a forest of tall pines and hardwoods sweeping behind our barn in the back. I cautiously eyed the tree that grew by my window and walked into the house.

"I'm going up to do my homework," I told Mom as I grabbed a peach and made for the stairs.

"Okay," she said without looking at me. I sighed, but climbed the stairs to the landing and opened the door to my messy room. I knew I should do my homework, but I couldn't quite bring myself to open my backpack; I had placed the paper sack in there. So I grabbed my phone, headphones, and half-eaten peach and climbed out my window into the tree. Nestling myself into a sturdy juncture of four branches, I plugged in my headphones and turned on 4G to surf the internet. Finally pulling up the next episode of my favorite anime, _Attack on Titan_, I dropped the peach pit to the ground and settled in my seat.

Before I could press play I received a text message. Opening it, I shuddered at the picture attached to the text.

I had been sent a petition to kill myself signed by the entire school.

Sent to me by Julie.

As much as I wanted to think it didn't hurt, the pain it caused in my chest was worse than any stab or punch they could have laid on me. I slipped the cover off of my phone and grabbed the razor blade I kept hidden in the case, flipping the shiny piece of metal in my hand several times before yanking up my sleeve and holding it up to my scarred wrist.

_Don't_.

I dropped my hand and flung the blade to the ground, tears pricking behind my eyes but not falling. I sat back in the crook of the tree as I watched the sun glint off the metal on the ground. I silently prayed to a god I didn't believe in that my parents would run over it when mowing and never see it.

Looking down at the ground I noticed the sun's glint beginning to warp, as if the metal was melting. But, sunlight wasn't green...

The blade was melting into the ground, molten metal dripping between the pores of the dirt and slipping into the mantle, all the while casting and eerie green glow somewhat reminiscent of the Northern Lights. A hole began to open up in the ground and the wind picked up.

"_What the hell?_"

I felt the tears on my face being sucked into the hole as it expanded into a gaping glowing rift in the ground, trying to consume everything around me. This, as I remembered was not a property of metal as explained to me in chemistry class.

I felt myself being forced from the branch, falling into nothing. The last thing I saw was the green light surrounding me, then blackness.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Levi's POV

I was seriously pissed off. Erwin had just deposited yet another stack of paperwork atop my desk – right next to the three others. I had been sitting at that god-forsaken desk for four hours filling out form after form, page after page, and I had had it up to a certain height far past my head.

"Commander," I groaned and rubbed my eyes with the heels of my palms, "I'm going for a walk."

"Don't take too long, Levi," he told me. I left.

When I was safely into the forest surrounding HQ, I breathed a sigh of relief and slumped against a tree. I despised paperwork. After running a hand through my hair I drew the swords on my 3DMG and squeezed the motion triggers. Sailing through the air, I felt at peace.

That is, until I saw something dark crumpled on the forest floor.

I cautiously swung down to examine the object, soon realizing it was a person collapsed on the ground. Noiselessly, I landed beside them and sheathed my swords before I knelt down. It was then that I recognized the figure as that of a young woman, several scrapes marring her pale skin. She was dressed rather oddly – loose-fitting black workpants and a baggy black shirt with a hood sewn to the back. Long strands of dark hair, tangled with forest debris, stuck out from their bun at odd angles. I placed my hand uselessly against her forehead. There was a reason they didn't train me as a doctor.

"Oi," I said, lightly slapping her in a weak attempt to rouse her. "Are you alright?"

I knew it was a stupid question, but, fortunately, nobody was present (or conscious) to hear it. She still refused to wake, and I couldn't just leave her to die in the middle of the forest, so I gently lifted her in my arms and began to carry her back to HQ.

She, however, had other plans.

When we were halfway through the forest on the way back to the castle her eyelids began to flutter.

"Gnh," (or something along those lines) she groaned and tried to open her eyes.

"Don't," I told her. "You look like you took a pretty bad fall. You need your rest." She complied and leaned her head back against my chest. Then her eyes flew open.

"What the absolute hell!?" she yelled and leapt from my grasp, landing on her back and righting herself.

"Calm down," I said. "You've fallen from one of these trees. You're probably a bit foggy right now-"

"Don't!" she yelled at me, face flushed, feet in a defensive stance. I took a hesitant step forward, but she matched my by stepping back. "Don't come any closer!"

"I'm just trying to get you somewhere where you can get medical attention," I said coolly and took another step closer.

"I said not to come any closer!" growled the girl as her eyes narrowed menacingly. Even to me, she looked threatening.

"And what do you plan to do if I disregard that?" I asked her disparagingly.

"Honestly," she answered with a nervous laugh, "run as fast as I can."

She tore off in a gallop. I drew my swords and cast a grappling hook into a nearby tree, rocketing forward as I swung on my 3DMG wires. She was surprisingly fast, even for someone of her small size; I had no problem overtaking her, however. I landed directly in front of her.

"Miss me?" I sneered and grabbed her wrists.

"Not particularly," she grunted and kneed me in the groin. When I doubled over from the pain in my balls she took the opportunity to plant a kick in my skull, sending me crashing into a tree. Ignoring the shooting pains in my abdomen and back, I hauled myself to my feet and stared at her.

"That," I panted and clawed at my stomach, "was a dirty trick."

"Thank you for that enlightening piece of information," she deadpanned. She made no effort to run after seeing the speed with which I moved with the assistance of my 3DMG; instead, she opted to assume a defensive stance and stand her ground.

This isn't going to be as easy as I thought.

"Listen," I tried to reason with her. "All I was-"

"No, you listen to me, Creep," she spat. "I have no interest in being kidnapped. I just want to go home, wherever the hell that its."

"I'm not trying to kidnap you."

"That's what they all say. And you know what happens to the stupid girls who believe them? They end up being made into fucking candles!"

"Will you just listen!?" She shifted her stance slightly, never tearing her gaze from me.

"I'm listening," she said warily.

"Okay," I began. "I was just taking a walk, and I found you lying in the middle of the forest, so I decided to take you back to the infirmary at HQ."

"HQ?" she asked and cocked her head ever so slightly. "The headquarters of what organization?"

"The Survey Corps."

Her eyes widened to an almost comical size, then narrowed once more.

"I'm not stupid, you Creep," growled the girl. "The Survey Corps is –"

She was interrupted by the sound of leaves crunching under a newcomer's feet.

"Levi!" Commander Erwin called from behind me. "I thought I told you to take a short walk." He stopped upon noticing the girl before me. "Do we have an intruder, Corporal?"

"I'm not sure, Commander," I answered without tearing my eyes away from her. She looked, wide-eyed, from me to Erwin and back again.

"Erwin?" she whispered with an astonished tone. "Levi?"

"That would be 'Corporal' to you," I corrected her harshly. Her mouth opened and closed uselessly for a moment before she was finally able to speak.

"Oh, I'm in deep shit now."

She hit the ground running back into the forest.

"What was that?" Erwin asked me. I shook my head and readied my swords.

"If I knew I'd tell you. But be careful with that one," I warned. "She's not weak." We both shot off into the woods on our 3DMG in pursuit of the girl, who we found to be leaping from tree to tree in an effort to conserve precious energy. Commander Erwin and I looked at each other.

How could anyone get into a tree that quickly?

As if just to confuse us, she suddenly leapt from the branch on which she stood and landed in a shoulder roll on the ground.

"Just give up!" Commander Erwin called down to her.

"Don't give away our position," I said.

"Are you giving your superior orders now?"

Looking back down to the girl racing below I steadied myself and shot a wire to a branch about five meters in front of me. She looked back up at us, then at the place where my hook gripped the tree. Suddenly I was falling. The sturdy branch to which I was attached had spontaneously snapped from the trunk and was plummeting to the ground below, taking me down with it. I hurriedly withdrew my grappling hook and shot it into the nearest tree to steady myself.

"God!" I heard Erwin yell behind me. Looking over my shoulder, I realized he had had a similar experience. I looked back to the girl; she had turned and was running backwards so as to gauge our reactions. While she still looked scared, she also looked relieved that we had been able to save ourselves. She whipped around and accelerated. In a futile effort to capture her my superior officer shot a wire into a tree near the girl and swept down to grab her. As if predicting his actions she shot her leg up to connect with his face. She winced as he cried out in pain, seemingly distracted.

Here's my chance.

Taking advantage of her momentary distraction I swung down and grabbed her around the middle.

"LET ME GO, YOU BASTARD" she demanded as she squirmed in my grasp.

"Tch. Such a filthy mouth."

Within an hour she was chained to a wall in the basement with a bloodied face. She, however, seemed unperturbed, still making wise-cracks between blows.

"Nice place you got here," she groaned. "I'm guessing you keep the candle-making equipment locked away somewhere?" I brought my foot to the crown of her head and pressed her head to the floor.

"I have the capability to end you right here and now."

"You won't," she observed. I pressed my food harder into her skull.

"And how," I leaned down to her level, "do you know that?"

"Because that takes all the fun out of it, doesn't it?" I pressed harder, then released her head from under my boot. "Plus," she added, "I'm just too fun to kill." Her eyes wandered to the amused faces of her guards. I looked to them as well.

"Well," I demanded of them. "Is she too fun to kill?" They shared a nervous glance before the taller of the two answered.

"She is quite amusing, sir," he said. The chained girl flashed an infuriating smirk my way, for which she was rewarded with a swift kick to the shoulder.

"Jeez, Corporal," she mocked. "Don't you think that's a rather harsh punishment for a facial expression? I glared at her. "See, if I had made that expression I would be bleeding even more. The hypocrisy is palpable."

"Do you ever shut up?" I sighed and massaged the space between my eyebrows.

"Occasionally," she quipped. "Talking is a side effect of my allergy to assholes."

"Would you give me some straight answers if it were just me here with you?" I asked finally.

"Perhaps. It really depends on the questions you ask."

"Out," I ordered the guards. Anything to get this over with. They complied and left the basement. "Now, I want you to answer me truthfully. No half-truths. No leaving anything out."

"Okay," she sighed dramatically. "Well, it all started when I was born to two wonderful people-"

"Not that much of everything," I said abrasively. "Let's just start with your age. You can't be eighteen." She snickered at the ground.

"You're right. I'm not eighteen," said the girl. "I'm twenty."

"Bullshit."

"I'm not bullshitting you. I'm twenty."

"Continuing," I sighed. She couldn't be twenty. "Where are you from?" She bristled slightly at the mention of her home.

"The deepest pits of hell," she said lowly. "When I get back I'll say hello to my Spanish teacher for you."

"Straight answers, girl!" I commanded her. Her expression never changed.

"I'm from outside the walls," the girl answered slowly.

People live outside the walls?

"Is there a colony there?" I asked, trying to sound disinterested. She gave a shaky laugh and nodded.

"I guess you could say that."

"Where is it located?" She seemed very hesitant to answer. "We won't pulverize your colony, if that's why you're so worried."

"It's not that, it's just..." she trailed.

"Spit it out, girl."

"Fine!" she quipped. "I don't know where it is. I fell out of a tree in my colony and blacked out, then woke up here."

"Hm."

The Scouts have mapped thirty miles from the walls with no sign of a colony. If she's telling the truth she couldn't have simply wandered off; someone must have purposefully deposited her here.

"Do you have any family that might be looking for you?" She shook her head. "Then what are you called?"

She lowered her face and didn't answer.

"I said," I growled and yanked her head up by her hair, bringing her face inches from mine, "what are you called?"

Despite how she had held out during her torture session, I expected her to whimper in pain and stutter out an answer, all while looking at me with terrified and teary eyes. Instead she locked her jaw and glared at me with eyes harder than steel.

"If you won't tell me that then tell me where you learned to fight," I demanded.

"I've been in plenty of fights, Corporal," she sneered. "I can take care of myself."

"And what about Titans? What do you do then?"

"I have my ways," she growled lowly. "Unchain me and I might give you a demonstration."

"I am not an idiot, little girl," I snarled. Before I could continue there was a knock at the dungeon door. "What is it?"

"Commander Erwin wishes to speak with you, sir!" a voice came through the door. I dropped the girl's hair and stood abruptly.

"Tell the commander I will be with him shortly," I said without taking my eyes from the bloody mess before me.

"You tend to do everything shortly," she chuckled to herself, earning her another swift kick in the shoulder blades.

"Do you have a death wish?" She laughed again.

"Something like that."

Turning sharply away from her, I strode to the door and grabbed the handle.

"Oh, and Corporal?" she called from behind me.

"What?" I asked gruffly.

"Sleep tight," she chuckled again. I slammed the door and left.

That girl was going to break if it was the last thing either of us did.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Zoralee's POV

Two days. At least.

Two god-forsaken days I was kept in that basement. A rusty pail for a toilet, blood-soaked clothes, and two black eyes from the midget – if I wasn't absolutely insane already, I was going to be very soon.

What the hell had even happened? There was no way I had just fallen into Attack on Titan, right? I had taken to routinely pinching myself to make sure it was all real; when I finally accepted that it was all real I felt a mixture of shock, terror, and pure-fucking-joy. Shock because I had broken the space-time continuum, terror because I had sassed and lied to the Mighty Midget (who I soon realized was taller than me), and pure-fucking-joy because I had a chance at a real life. Not a cookie-cutter American dream life with a stellar education and lots of money, but a chance to really live; though I probably wouldn't get much living done if I didn't get out of that fucking dungeon.

I was startled from my contemplation by the sound of the door creaking open. Corporal Levi strode calmly into the room and held up his hand to bar the guards from entering; then he closed the door and took a seat in a chair in front of me.

"Good day, Corporal," I greeted him lowly. "Or perhaps it's night. It's a tad difficult to discern when you're stuck in a fucking box."

"Did you learn nothing from your interrogation?" he asked dryly.

"I got an idea of what makes you tick, if that's what you mean."

He leaned back in his chair.

"Tch. Are you going to keep up the attitude or are you going to cooperate today?"

"Just like the last time, it all depends on the questions you ask." He turned his head back to face me with those piercing grey eyes. I suppressed a shiver; I had always thought he was attractive in the anime, but he was downright gorgeous in person.

"I don't have any questions for you today." What?

"Then why did you come?"

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

"I came," he said slowly, "to inform you that you are to be executed."

Of goddamn course.

"For insolence?" I sighed. He opened one eye.

"I just told you that you're going to die and all you care about it why?" he questioned with an incredulous lilt.

"If I remember correctly I did admit to having a death wish."

He nodded once, formally.

"However, the Survey Corps and I have decided to make use of your death." I cocked an eyebrow at him. "We are going to use you as Titan bait on our next excursion."

"Oh, yay," I scoffed. "Instead of the guillotine I get to dissolve in Titan stomach acid."

"Who's to say we won't kill you before we hand you over to the Titans?"

"It wouldn't do any good," I observed. "They only go for the live ones."

He snapped both eyes open.

"How do you know that?"

"I am the savior of the world," I said dryly. "I've come to grant knowledge to mankind."

This is way too close. No matter what, he's not going to believe me.

"If that were true you would have told me how to get a straight answer out of you."

"Well, look at that," I said in mock awe. "The Corporal has a sense of humor."

"Don't get used to it."

"I wasn't planning to. I'm dying soon."

"You are full of morbid humor, aren't you?"

"And you're full of sunshine and rainbows," I scoffed. I was surprised to see the tiniest shadow of an amused smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. "So when am I scheduled to be executed?"

"You have five minutes to right your wrongs and then we leave."

I sighed and rested the back of my head against the wall.

"Great," I groaned and let my hands fall uselessly atop my splayed knees. "Just a cheery afternoon picnic, my life is."

First I get transported to the place I most want to be, and then I find the characters I love so much are planning to kill me. Just my luck.

"I don't need any time, Corporal," I told the man who sat across from me

He sighed uncaringly and stood.

"Then we might as well get going," he said without looking at me. I nodded despite the fact that he couldn't see.

"Show time," I sighed and stood up against the wall. "It's going to be a bit difficult to leave if I'm still chained to the wall, though." Levi motioned for the guards to unchain me, which they swiftly did only to place me in handcuffs.

"And now I'm a criminal," I said to the wall. "I bet my mother would be so proud."

"I thought you said you didn't have any family."

"I said I didn't have any family that was looking for me," I emphasized the last part. He made a noncommittal "tch" sound and grabbed the link between the cuffs on my wrists.

"Walk," he commanded. As much as I would have liked to stand my ground just to annoy him, I would most likely fall my ground when he yanked my wrists. So, I did as I was commanded for one of the first times in my life.

And probably one of my last.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Levi's POV

Walking her down the HQ corridors was like leading a celebrity. She had become quite well-known amongst the Scouts even though only four of us had ever seen her. Her eyes roved over the regiment, her mouth occasionally mumbling something incoherent, but she never once stopped walking. Until she saw Petra waving sadly in her direction.

"Petra," she whispered brokenly and then turned to me. "I need to talk to you."

"It's a little late for that," I said, but she shook her head rapidly.

"You don't understand, Corporal. Bad things are going to happen if I don't tell you some things."

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a promise." I looked around for a door, any door, that would lead to somewhere without prying ears or eyes. I finally spied the door to a girl's dormitory and pulled her toward it.

"This way," I said lowly and opened the door. A few cadets blew wolf whistles our way, and Hanji blew kisses. I growled under my breath, but did nothing. The girl, however, whirled around to glare at the culprits.

"I will end you," she threatened with a snarl, earning several chuckles. I rolled my eyes and yanked her into the room. Once the door was locked, I glared at her.

"You better have a very good reason for-"

"Are you going after a female Titan?"

I stopped in the middle of my sentence. The other squad leaders and I had been planning this expedition for weeks in absolute secrecy - this girl had been here for less than three days and she knew!

"How did you-"

"I'll take that as a yes," she interrupted again. "I... be prepared."

"What? Is that it? 'Be prepared?'"

"Fine, asshole!" she snapped, then lowered her voice. "Be prepared to see your entire squad die at the hands of Titans and a spy!"

"What proof do you have of this?" I asked.

"None."

"Then why should I bel-"

"You used to be a thug," she said bluntly. "Some people call you 'Shorty' or 'Midget.' You have an obsession with cleanliness. Hanji has an unhealthy fixation with scientific experimentation on Titans, Jeager wears a key to his basement around his neck at all times, and Armin is a genius strategist."

What the hell is this kid?

"Who told you all of that?" I hissed. "You've only been in contact with four people in the past forty-eight hours, so if you don't tell me it won't take me long to figure it out."

"Fine. Don't believe me. See where it gets you," she started to walk to the door.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"From what I've been able to ascertain, to my death," she deadpanned.

"That's fine with me," I grumbled. But the moment she touched the door, she took a deep breath and wheeled around.

"Jeager is going to try to transform when you get into the forest," she told me. "Everyone is going to beg him not to do it, but you'll just give an ambiguous speech about trusting yourself versus trusting your comrades. The female Titan is going to scream and get all the other Titans to eat her so the person inside her can escape. The person inside is a spy and will lead your entire squad to their deaths. And if you, I, or both of us don't do something about it, Petra is going to die of a broken neck by getting slammed into a tree."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" I asked after a moment. She sighed.

"I'm telling you all of this," she said slowly, "so that when you see it start to happen, you'll believe me."

"And what do I do if I start to believe you? Retreat?" She shook her head again.

"Come and find me. I can guarantee I'll still be alive."

I had pulled the bloodstained girl to Commander Erwin's horse. The Commander and I jointly lifted her atop the horse and tied her feet to the outside of the stirrups.

"Are the bindings really necessary?" she scoffed and looked down at me. Commander Erwin mounted the horse behind the girl.

"Yes," he said plainly.

"Whatever," she sighed. "Might as well take the horse down with me. Maybe I won't die alone like my enemies insist I will."

Now, two hours later, I was staring straight ahead, standing atop the head of the female Titan, trying to look disinterested.

Jeager had wanted to transform into a Titan, my entire squad had tried to convince him to trust his orders, and I had given a speech about trusting oneself versus trusting one's comrades. Just like the girl had predicted. But that stupid cadet always wanted to transform; it was pure coincidence. It had to be. Nobody could see the future because the future was always changing - we make our own destinies.

Despite all odds, the girl remained alive and completely calm. She sat in the middle of the clearing fiddling with the hem of her shirt and picking dried blood from her shoes.

"I'd call this mission a success," Commander Erwin said from his perch in a tree. The girl scoffed down below. "What are you laughing at?"

"The mission's not over yet!" she called up to him.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Suddenly, the female Titan let out a great yawp and fell even more still.

"That, Commander," she said, "is what I mean."

The thundering of Titan footsteps was everywhere, converging on our position. The girl jumped up and snapped the chain that connected her handcuffs before untying the cloth that bound her feet together. When that was done, only moments later, she sprinted to the nearest tree and jumped, somehow grabbing a hold of a limb and hoising herself up to it.

"What are you doing!?" she screamed at us who were frozen in shock. "Fucking retreat already!"

As I watched the Titans attack the female Titan and begin to eat her, I remembered our conversation in the dormitory.

"Commander," I said steadily, "I think a retreat would be wise."

"What?"

"If we don't want to risk any more casualties, retreat would be the best option." The Commander stared at me for a moment, but then retrieved his flare gun and shot a plume of colored smoke into the air. Soon, more flares dotted the sky.

If this girl was right about this, I couldn't risk the lives of my comrades any longer.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Zoralee's POV

I can't let this happen again.

The anime was done. The anime was already animated and released. This couldn't have any effects in my world. But they could live or, at the very least, have a proper burial here.

That was when I made up my mind.

Jumping into the nearest tree, I shouted at Erwin and Levi to retreat. After way too long, the Commander gave the signal and everyone shot their 3DMG wires out to retreat. But then I remembered. In the next part of the episode, the spy disappeared into the forest to kill Levi's squadron. I bounded from tree to tree until I was able to spot the Corporal.

"CORPORAL LEVI!" I screamed. He whipped his head back, annoyed.

"What?" he called back.

"The spy! It's with your squadron trying to capture Jeager!" His eyes widened and then hardened once more, giving me a dangerously cold look over his shoulder.

"If you're wrong, I will personally punish you." I shuddered and he flew off to his right to find his comrades.

There were Titans everywhere, some still munching on the steaming remains of the female Titan behind me, others climbing trees to snatch soldiers from the branches. I dropped to the ground, knowing I could run faster than I could leap, and took off in the direction Levi had gone. Suddenly, a huge hand swept down in front of me. Looking up, I saw it was only a four-meter class, but I was still scared absolutely shitless. I fell to the ground to duck under the hand and then flippen myself back up and leapt into a tree. The Titan was still dangerously close to me. The hand came again, swiping at the tree in which I stood. I ran off the branch and jumped into the next tree, repeating the process until I found another Titan in the process of eating a soldier. The second Titan chomped down on the soldier's upper half, spattering me with even more blood; but, because the lower half was unscathed, the soldier's 3DMG was still salvagable.

Bullseye.

In a split second I bounded on to the eating Titan's back and made a sharp motion in the air, causing that vital strip on the back of its neck to slough from its position and the soldier's legs to drop to the ground. I turned and killed the other Titan the same way, then ran to rerieve the dead soldier's 3DMG.

When I had buckled the gear onto my lower half what I hoped was correctly, I looked back to the fallen soldier, his waist torn and bleeding. With a quick fling of my arms I pulled off his boot and sliced off his toe, sticking it in my pocket. At least part of him would get a proper burial. With that, I squeezed the triggers on the swords and went rocketing through the air.

Oh fuck!

Levi's POV

She had been right. A spy, having infiltrated our ranks, transformed back into its Titan form and had already killed Eldo and Gunther when I found it ten minutes later.

I swung down and landed on the Titan's shoulder, slicing at its neck with ease.

Until my blades met a crystalline formation and shattered.

"What?" I gasped.

Cadet Jeager stared up at me in shock and awe, trailing his eyes down to follow my broken blades, his eyes wide and mouth open in a silent scream. I jumped off of the Titan's shoulder and into a tree before swiftly exchanging my blades for fresh ones. How was I going to kill this one?

"Heads up!" a voice called.

Oh, God no.

The girl came swinging into the clearing on 3DMG wires and landed on the branch where I stood.

"What are you doing with military-issued equipment?" She sheathed her swords and wiped her palms on her hands.

"Kicking ass," she grunted and leapt on to the Titan's back, scaling it up to its neck and kneeling at its nape. The female Titan had formed a translucent callous over her weak point.

"It's no use," I said. "It's impenetrable."

Without turning away from the Titan's neck, she called back to me.

"If I can somehow get this stuff off, jump down and cut out the spy!"

"You can't, you dumbfuck."

"Watch me." She grabbed the edge of the callous with white knuckles and pulled. Immediately it began to peel back, exposing raw red muscle. It sounded like metal-on-metal, sending sparks flying to ignite several leaves and making me and those remaining of my squad cover our ears. Within two seconds she had effectively made a gap wide enough to strike through.

"NOW!" she commanded.

Without thinking of how this civilian had just ordered a corporal, I shot a blade into the Titan's neck, landed, and struck.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Zoralee's POV

Minutes after having defeated the female Titan - for fuck's sake, I had just helped to take down a Titan! - Levi and I stood staring down at a shackled Annie Leonhardt. Remembering the ring she used as a trigger, I had quickly swiped it from her finger and pocketed it. I glared at her and then walked to slump behind a tree, finally releasing the panting breaths I had stifled. Reaching for the buckles on the gear I wore, I pulled harshly on the leather straps and began to take it off.

"Keep it on," a voice murmured by my ear. I immediately panicked and hit the person in the face, only to realize it was the Corporal.

"Fuck, where did you learn to punch like that?" he asked, holding his nose.

"I'm so sorry!" I apologized frantically. "I didn't mean to-" He held up a hand to quiet me.

"Just keep the 3DMG on, you idiot. We're not out of here yet." My eyes enlarged to the size of dinner plates. What happened to "What are you doing with military-issued equipment"?

"That was the craziest thing I've ever seen anyone do aside from turn into a Titan," he told me with steely eyes. "And, frankly, I don't know how what you did was possible."

"I'm honestly at a loss myself," I half-lied. I knew how I could move things with my mind, but I had no idea how I snapped the tendon connections on that large a scale. Levi made a "tch" sound and began to walk away, and I re-buckled the unfastened strap on the 3DMG.

Then, mid-stride, Levi turned to look over his shoulder.

"And don't think you just got off scot-free," he warned. "I will personally handle your punishment."

"Of course you will," I snorted. "You couldn't be a proper asshole if you didn't."

I swore I saw him smirk again.

The next day I was awakened by the sound of my cell door creaking open.

"Rise and shine," a monotone voice echoed off the stone walls. I knew that voice. It was the voice of either hilariously withering insults or extreme pain.

Levi.

"What do you want now?" I yawned and sat up. "Is there another execution plot?"

"No, sadly," he said dryly.

"Well, I know you're not here for a party, so what's happening?" He sat down in the chair and folded his arms.

"How are you so strong?" he asked bluntly.

"Oh, so we're doing this again," I rolled my eyes. Levi sighed exasperatedly and repeated the question. "I've been in martial arts training since I was six. That's also how I know how to fight."

"That still doesn't explain how you were able to expose the Titan's neck, little girl."

"I'm not such a little girl, Corporal. I'm twenty years old." Biggest lie I've ever told in my fifteen years of life.

"If you won't tell me what you are really called I will continue to give you diminutive nicknames. Is that clear, Shit-for-Brains?"

"Almost as clear as the air in your head," I countered. We just glared at each other for a few moments, then he spoke again, harshly.

"How did you peel back the hardened muscle?"

"I just did! Why can't you just accept the help and let it go?" I hissed. I was going to end up being labeled a monster if anyone found out about my abilities! I would be treated exactly like Eren, and, top it off, I was from another dimension! How well could that go over?

"I didn't need your help, little girl," he said coolly.

"Your broken blades would beg to differ, sir."

"Tch. Just answer the question."

"Listen. I have no idea how I did it. I just... felt it out," I tried to explain. "I can't explain it." He scowled; I could tell he wanted to kick me mercilessly for a few hours.

"Fine," he quipped, strain evident in his voice. "Then how did you know about what would happen?"

Oh motherfucking son of a whore-eating cuntburger bitch fucknuggets.

"I..."

"Were you in league with Leonhardt?" he eyed me suspiciously.

"No!" I protested. "Absolutely not! If I was working with that girl, why would I give away the plot?"

"To gain our trust and infiltrate our ranks, perhaps?"

"Thank you for that wonderful idea," I snapped. "I'll be sure to pass that along to my cohorts back in Hell. I'm sure they could use when we take over the world." I was met with a boot in my face.

"The attitude needs to stop," he said coolly, but I could detect a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Oh please," I turned my head away so my mouth was free. "You love it." He gently kicked my head back and crossed the leg over his other.

"You have yet to answer my question, Fuck-Up. I suggest you change that."

"I really don't know how to answer it, Corporal," I admitted. It was part-way true; I had no idea what to say to that. How do you explain that you're not even from this world? "I just... knew. Sometimes I... see things that haven't happened yet."

"Like visions of the future?" he asked. I snorted.

"Yeah. Something like that."

"Straight answers, girl."

"You are just begging for a gay joke, aren't you?" He just covered his face with his hands momentarily and looked back to me, seeming utterly exhausted.

"Would you please tell me?" he asked.

"I didn't know 'please' was in your vocabulary, Corporal," I teased. "And no, I won't tell you." Levi sighed.

"You are the most difficult person I've ever encountered." I laughed darkly. "Do you find that amusing, brat?"

"It's just that I get that a lot," I explained. "It reminds me of my colony."

We fell silent for a moment, only interrupted by another one of Levi's sighs as he spoke again.

"Then I guess I don't have a choice," he said.

"Are you going to beat me again? It's not going to work. I'm used to pain."

"I actually have orders not to beat you." I quirked an eyebrow. "Commander Erwin has requested that you join the Survey Corps."

My eyebrows shot up and my jaw dropped. This had been my dream ever since I had started watching the anime! I had even built a 3DMG prototype (which failed so fucking miserably it was laughable) and taken additional martial arts courses for this! Not that I had thought I'd ever actually be a Scout, but to feel like I could be one if needed. I was freaking out on the inside, having a tiny party in my brain involving a lot of fireworks, but I was absolutely speechless.

Holy fuck. I'm joining the Scouts.

"You will be put through an accelerated training course that will last for three weeks. During these three weeks you will be tested and trained in endurance, speed, agility, and precision in both Titan-killing and hand-to-hand combat. At the end of thesse three weeks, if you present adequate skill, you will serve for two months as an honorary Scout before gaining full Scout status."

Holy absolute fuck. I'm joining the Scouts.

"The training will be conducted privately by Commander Erwin, myself, and whatever other unlucky son of a bitch wants to listen to your sass. Said training begins tomorrow at seven a.m. and will end when we say so."

Holy motherfucking bitches I'm joining the Scouts!

I managed a strangled "yes, sir" and leaned back against the wall, still in shock.

"Oi, brat!"

"Huh?" His emotionless face was in great contrast with his laughing eyes.

"So you finally gave up the attitude?" I quickly recovered and scoffed.

"You wish," I flashed him a smirk. "I've just... always wanted to do something like this." He raised one of his eyebrows quizzically.

"You've always wanted to enter the military to risk your life for a battle that may never be won?"

I hesitated for a moment. If I let too much slip, I was never getting out of that cell.

"Not exactly," I said slowly. "You see... back in my colony, we all have pretty much the same lives: go to school for about fourteen years, then go off to receive some kind of higher education for around five years, get a job in an office or a lab somewhere, get married, have a few kids, retire, and die. And if you try to leave you get attacked as unpatriotic or a terrorist. And... I guess I've just always wanted to do something that actually meant something instead of living and dying in the same cage as everybody else."

Even for Levi, he was eerily silent. Those piercing grey eyes of his bored holes into my skull; I felt like he was trying to peel off my skin to see my soul or something. I took it as a sign to continue.

"What you do here is so incredibly different from anything any of my fellow colonists have ever even dreamed of doing. It actually means something! Everybody wants that nice quiet life, but... I've never really liked being quiet."

He stared at me for another minute, then spoke steadily.

"Training starts tomorrow at seven a.m., brat. Someone will be here to wake you up at six a.m." He got up and started to leave, but turned around when he reached the door.

"You still haven't told me what people call you," he stated.

"How astute of you." He brushed off the comment like it was nothing and kept staring at me, then turned to leave again.

If I was going to do anything or be anything other than a broken sack of flesh walking the earth, it was going to take every ounce of courage, anger, and control I possessed. There was only one thing I had that gave me all three.

"Reaper," I whispered at the ground. I heard the Corporal's bootsteps fall silent as he fell still. Then a scraping sound told me he had turned on his toes to look at me.

"What?" he asked.

"Reaper," I said again, this time a little stronger. I felt like I was going to throw up. "You asked me what I was called."

"...You're called 'Reaper?'" I nodded. A pause, then he turned and left.

The Grim Reaper: the caretaker who leads the dead to the underworld. A lonely figure, no face, no distinct body, and bony fingers crooked to beckon those whom it chooses; it lives in total anonymity and total darkness. But the Grim Reaper is a guide who navigates Death's catacombs, gently taking the dead's hands as they journey down, down, down to the underworld. Death is a new life, and the Grim Reaper is the ultimate guide to starting over.

Maybe, just maybe, "Reaper" would do that for me.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Levi's POV

I couldn't sleep that night. Not because of the heavy footsteps stomping up and down stone stairs or muffled past-curfew murmurs in the mess hall; no, my insomnia was brought on by that girl. Reaper.

I had a terrifying hold on everyone I encountered (Hanji being the only exception, but she had been intimidated at first). Cadets would shake when they saw me come into the mess hall; I had even heard rumors that new recruits in training camp told ghost stories about me. I had occasionally come across someone who would talk back once and then cower and apologize, but never in all my years as a Squad Leader had I met someone as brash as that girl chained in the basement. If guts had a face it would be hers. I had never expected her to be anything but snarky in the face of authority, but her speech that night had proven me wrong.

It had made me rethink my entire fucking life on the spot.

The next morning, as I sat eating a roll across from Hanji, the entire mess hall went silent. Everyone's head turned or craned to look in the direction of the door. I just held my forehead and took another bite of bread.

Hanji poked me repeatedly in the shoulder.

"What?" I grumbled without looking up.

"It's the girl," she whispered excitedly.

"Tch. I know what she looks like, Hanji."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Shorty."

"Fine," I capitulated with a sigh. "I'll look behind me at something I have already seen a million times and-"

I couldn't speak.

There she stood in the mess hall doorway, glowering at nobody in particular as one of the guards uncuffed her wrists. But the look on her face wasn't what everyone was whispering about.

The training uniform the Commander had selected for her was the same cut as usual, but dyed completely black to set her apart from the rest of the Cadets. The tight black pants molded to fit her curvy hips and muscular legs, tapering off to round calves and tiny booted feet. And the jacket fit her like a glove, ending just a few inches below the curve of her breasts that I was definitely not looking at whatsoever. And the shower she had undoubtedly taken that morning had washed away all the grime from her face, revealing flawless porcelain skin, icy blue eyes, and rose-petal lips.

In other words, she was gorgeous. And everybody in the room could tell.

She glared at the people gathered in the mess hall as she wrung out her sore wrists.

"What?" she snapped. Everyone quickly turned back to their food and tried to come up with enough conversation to fill up the room. Reaper, on the other hand, leaned back to talk with the guard who had escorted her there; the guard in question was blushing profusely. When she walked away from him I noticed that he was grinning like an idiot. I turned back to Hanji emotionlessly.

"Well?" she cooed. I glared at her a moment before taking another bite of my roll.

"Well, what?" I asked after I had swallowed.

"Well, how does she look?" Hanji asked like it was obvious. Which it was, but I would never let her win an argument.

"Like a girl dressed in all black," I responded coolly. "Your point?" She looked personally offended at my remark.

"I got down there at six a.m. this morning to pretty her up and all this painstaking work was for nothing? I call bullshit!"

Reaper was now standing with her breakfast and observing the mess hall. Her gaze flitted to the officer's table, then back to the crowd of Cadets, and then finally settled on an empty table by a window in a corner. She strode to the aforementioned table, sat facing the wall, and began to eat. I looked back to Hanji, who looked a bit more smug than hurt.

"Not looking at her, eh?" she teased. I told her to shut up under my breath and finished my roll, quickly standing to leave. Just then, Hanji stood and took her tray to sit opposite Reaper. As she passed she leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"You're welcome to join us."

It took all my self-control not to punch her.

Reaper's POV

My morning brooding was interrupted by Hanji plopping down across from me.

"Good morning, again!" she said cheerily. I groaned and spooned another bite of whatever in God's name was for breakfast into my mouth. "Hey! I got you all prettied up and this is the gratitude I get?"

I sighed. "Sorry, Hanji. I'm... I"m not a people person."

"I can tell," she stated. "That doesn't mean that I'm going to leave, though. You look lonely. You should go eat with some of the other Cadets!"

I snuck a look at the leaving Corporal Levi. He was looking my way as well, so we shared a brief period of what was either extremely awkward or extremely pissed eye contact. Then he made that "tch" sound and faced forward.

"There is no other Cadet. I'm not a Cadet, remember?" Hanji just laughed.

"Don't let His Grumpiness scare you too much. I think he's just a little upset that we've got someone who knows how to push his buttons. The actual pushing of buttons isn't the main concern."

"So... he's upset because I have him basically figured out?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. She nodded.

"He doesn't like that you're not scared of him," she said. "I think he's going to try everything to get you to fear him."

"Maybe someone should tell him that fear isn't the only way to gain someone's respect," I said.

"Well, I'm sure not getting any other Cadets to do it. You're the only one he won't punish."

"Because he knows pain doesn't work with me?"

"That, and," she leaned closer to me across the table and spoke in a low whisper, "I think he likes you!"

I choked on my bread.

Hanji reached over the table to slap my back repeatedly. I dislodged the offending piece of bread from my windpipe and swallowed it, letting out a final string of coughs. My eyes were still open wide.

"What?" I coughed. "That's absolutely insane!"

"Hey, be flattered!" she said, then whispered. "He normally only looks at women as people to sleep with and then speaks nothing of it. With you, he can't get you off his mind."

"That's absolutely insane," I said again and shook my head into my hand.

"He's furious with you, that's for sure. But you're in a different category from everyone else he's mad at. You're like... the Alpha-anger."

"Yeah, because I'm an absolutely and totally unlovable bitch, not because my personality is so incredibly attractive," I said.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Reaper." The hand on my lap clenched into a fist at the nickname. I was going to have to work on that. "I'm very seldom wrong when it comes to Shorty."

"Even if he did feel something other than absolute hatred towards me he's way too old for me! This weird matchmaking thing is not going to work."

"He is only 24 years old. Four years is not such a huge difference. And this 'weird matchmaking thing' is definitely going to work." I just shook my head and finished off my breakfast.

"Dream on, Hanji," I scoffed and stood from my seat. I grabbed my bowl and spoon and placed them on the shelf where I had seen all the Cadets (holy shit, I was joining the Survey Corps!) place their own. Suddenly, I heard that horrible "tch" sound behind me. I swiveled around to face him.

"What do you want, Corporal?" I sighed. There was a collective intake of breath amongst the other occupants of the mess hall. The corporal in question tensed angrily and let out a breath to calm himself.

"You will be washing your own dishes, Reaper," he said. I sighed again, but grabbed the dishes I had used from the shelf and turned back to the Corporal.

"Where-" I began.

"Through the door behind you," he cut in. "When you're done, place them on the shelf beside the sink."

"Yes, sir." He raised an eyebrow.

"You're calling me 'sir' now?" he asked incredulously.

"Don't worry. I meant it with utmost disrespect." I turned on my heel and walked through the door.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Levi's POV

Not ten minutes later I was called back to the mess hall; or, more accurately, the kitchen.

The entire kitchen was coated in a layer of white suds, with Reaper standing with her back to us in the middle of it all.

We all stood in absolute silence and stoicism for about ten seconds. It was Hanji who burst first.

"What-" she began.

"Hell if I know," Reaper interrupted. I took a deep calming breath before speaking.

"Did you use the yellow soap or the green soap?" I asked.

"What?"

"Yellow. Like the sun in children's drawings. Green, like grass. Did you use the sun soap or the grass soap?"

"I'm familiar with the concepts of yellow and green, you ass!" she hissed. The Cadets gasped again. "I... I think I used the yellow soap."

"You think?"

"It's an interesting development, I know. But what does yellow soap have to do with anything?"

"The yellow soap is highly concentrated. It is specifically allocated for floor scrubbings." Her fists clenched and unclenched, and Cadet Kirstein erupted in a fit of giggles.

"Fuck you, Kirstein," she grumbled and ran her hands over her face.

"Is something funny, Cadet Kirstein?" I asked him sternly. He immediately stifled his giggles.

"No, sir!" he almost squeaked.

"Really?" Reaper laughed once, humorlessly. "That's normally why one laughs. And I would have assumed that you would find your little practical joke on the new guy pretty damn funny, Kirstein."

He turned completely white.

"Did you have a hand in this, Cadet Kirstein?" I asked. He swallowed hard.

"I-I might have said something to the effect of 'use the soap on the ledge-'"

"Bullshit!" Reaper hissed. "You said, 'Don't use the green soap. It's not strong enough.'"

I thought the boy would faint.

I grumbled and ran my hand over my forehead. A sudsy kitchen, a practical joke, and a sleepless night was not an award-winning combination.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" I asked. He looked as if he might burst. Finally, he did.

"She called me 'horse-face' and whinnied whenever I said anything!"

A majority of the Cadets burst into ill-concealed snickers.

"Hey! Shut up!" Kirstein called over his shoulder.

"Stable duty for a week starting tomorrow, Cadet Kirstein," I said. "For this disaster and being unable to control yourself." He sighed in resignation. I dismissed the Cadets, and they quickly cled from the room, all giggling at the situation. I turned back to the girl.

"Reaper, you will be spending the rest of the day cleaning this up," I gestured to the suds everywhere. "After that, you will be attending to the stables." She nodded, then rested her hands against the sink and leaned over it, chuckling to herself.

"What's so funny?" Hanji asked.

"This place is an impossibility," she responded.

"What do you mean?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

It was then that I noticed something marring the skin of her cheek.

"What's wrong with your face?" I asked. She scoffed.

"I thought you of all people would be above insulting someone's appearance."

"I meant what's that blue speck under your eye, shit-for-brains." Hanji suddenly went berserk.

"Crap!" she exclaimed, rushing over to the girl and covering the blue cheek. "Come on! Let's get you to a bathroom! Where's my bag?"

"Hanji, I'm fine!" Reaper struggled to wriggle from Hanji's grasp, but failed miserably.

"Don't be ridiculous. We spent all that time this morning getting you all pretty-"

"Against my wishes!"

"-and it will not be for nothing!"

"Just let me wash it off!" Hanji dragged the girl from the room, leaving me standing in the middle of a mountain of soap suds.

This girl would be the death of me.

Reaper's POV

"Hanji, I swear to God-"

"My work will not be for nothing!"

She had more or less pinned me to the wall in her efforts to smear more peanut-butter colored makeup over my bruises. I had tried to wriggle from her grasp, but that woman's arms were made completely of iron! The only way I was getting out was by breaking her arm; and although I was perfectly capable of doing so, I had no desire to send her forearm through the floor.

"Please stop!" I begged. "It feels so gross!"

"I thought you wanted to be pretty for the Corporal." I turned beet red.

"That was you who wanted me to be pretty for the Corporal! The Corporal is like a five-year old who makes poop jokes to make up for his height deficiency!"

"Aren't you at all concerned that he might be right outside this door?"

"He already knows my opinion of him! Now let me go!"

He might be right outside this door... Oh, thank Jesus Christ.

"Corporal!" I screamed. " Please make her stop!"

"Do it yourself!" came the muffled reply.

"You fucking-" Hanji slapped her hand over my lips.

"We're all good in here!" she giggled lightly. I licked her hand and she recoiled instantly, freeing my mouth.

"I would send her through the wall and you know it, you asshole!" I could have sworn I heard him chuckle.

The door opened to reveal the classic emotionless Corporal Levi.

"Hanji," he sighed, "please release my trainee." The squad leader shot him a glare but complied. I slumped against the wall and ran my hands over my face. Hanji's footsteps stormed from the room, eventually fading down the hallway.

"Thanks," I said weakly. Levi made a "tch" sound.

"What was she doing this time?" he asked. I let out a humorless laugh.

"Trying to put more makeup on me," I groaned and pulled myself off the floor. I hunched over the sink and turned on the tap, cupping some water in my hands and scrubbing my face.

"Why-" He stopped abruptly as I moved my hands from my face to scoop up some more water.

My face was covered with blue- and purple-mottled bruises, most in the shape of overlapping bootprints. I winced as I scrubbed; the bruises were still tender.

"I thought you were an intelligent man, Corporal," I chuckled, then hissed as the water hit an open sore. Any concern that might have laced his voice was quickly exorcised, replaced by his usual intimidating stoicism.

"Tch," he scoffed. "Hanji should know better."

"That's what I told her this morning," I sighed. "But nooooo. 'We're going to make you look pretty for the Corporal!'" I chirped the last part in a spot-on impression of Hanji. As awe-struck as I was that I was really there, I was still thoroughly annoyed. Levi tch-ed again.

I ran my hands down my face for a final time and turned off the water. Wringing my wet hands into the sink, I scanned the room for a towel. Finding none, I wiped my face on the sleeve of my new jacket.

"Oi, brat," he said.

"I'm listening," I responded.

"If you're listening, salute me," he commanded. I lowered my arm from my face and raised an eyebrow.

"Testing before you cover the material, Corporal? I can see why you're not usually involved in Cadet training."

"I never said I wasn't involved in Cadet training, brat."

Shit shit shit shit shit! Time to use your bullshitting skills!

"All the Cadets are terrified of you. I would think that if you had trained them they would be slightly less scared." Whew!

"Fine," he stated curtly. "I will demonstrate." He performed the salute I knew all too well; just then, several Cadets walked by the restroom.

"Corporal?" one asked incredulously. "Why are you saluting to a lesser soldier, sir?"

"There's a new chain of command. I'm your God, now," I quipped without missing a beat. Levi immediately dropped the salute and fumed.

"Two weeks stable duty, brat," he ordered me. "And salute me when you address me." I did as I was commanded, but it did nothing to wipe the smirk from my face. He turned to the Cadets.

"You are dismissed, Cadets," he said calmly. They quickly left us alone. "Are you a masochist, Reaper?"

"No. I just find the amusement of watching you struggle to far outweigh the negative consequences of making you mad." He clenched one of his hands into a fist.

"We'll see how you take to stable duty," he said finally, then turned. "And don't forget to de-soap the kitchen. Dismissed."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Reaper's POV

I was going to murder Kirstein.

"De-soaping" the kitchen took hours, and drying everything took even longer. Apparently Levi had instructed all the Cadets not to assist me in any way; they all gave me pitying glances and scurried along. By the time I was done, I had missed both lunch and dinner, and I still had stable duty.

Little did Levi know that his extra punishment was actually the only thing keeping me going through the day (other than the fact that I WAS IN ATTACK ON FUCKING TITAN).

Back in Texas, I had evening stable duty. I found it relaxing, not to mention rewarding. I felt like I was doing something with my life, rather than just sitting and watching anime characters act out adventures that I would never have.

As often as I had watched and re-watched Attack on Titan, it was impossible to get a clear layout of the Survey Corps HQ. When I saw Armin in the hallway (holy fuck he was in the same room as me with no cosplay involved), I stopped him.

"Artlert!" I called. He whipped his head around, seemingly confused until his eyes rested upon me.

"Y-Yes?" he stammered. He was obviously very anxious about something, and I couldn't blame him. I was sure I had a bad reputation among the Cadets by now.

"I was just wondering how to get to the stables from here," I said. He gave a little nervous smile and looked away.

He gave me very clear directions to the stables, though they were interrupted by frequent nervous "ums" and stammers. I said my thanks and began to walk off, but I was stopped by a "wait!" I whirled around to face my addresser to find it was Armin again.

"Yeah?"

"I- um, I heard that you were from outside the walls!" he said. I laughed lightly. I had a good feeling that I knew where this was going.

"Yeah, I'm from outside the walls," I affirmed. His face lit up.

"Is it true? About the ocean? Is it real?" he asked excitedly. I nodded my head with a small smile. It made me happy to see him so excited.

"It covers over 70 percent of our planet, Armin," I said. "It's incredible."

"Whoa," he said. "Thanks!" He walked away with an obvious spring in his step.

I managed to find my way to the stable with very little trouble, pausing only to whinny when I saw Kirstein turn a corner. When I opened the door I nearly passed out.

The stable was disgusting. A thick layer of manure coated the manure forks, the storage stalls were overflowing with disorganized supplies, there were muddy bootprints tracking all over the mats, there was hay everywhere, the water toughs were disgustingly coated with green scum, and a fine layer of dust covered everything. For fuck's sake, even the horses were dusty. And everything reeked with the smell of horse manure. With a stable like this, it was no wonder the Cadets dreaded stable duty.

"Dear mother of fucking God," I said lowly.

I trudged through the layer of dropped hay covering the mats in the aisle and grabbed a manure fork, then took it outside to spray the shit from its tines. Once clean, I took it back inside and entered the first horse's stall, beginning to scoop the missed piles of manure from the soaked shavings.

This was going to take a while.

Levi's POV

It was about an hour before lights out for the Cadets and Reaper still hadn't reappeared. Slightly worried, I looked for her in the kitchens. While the kitchen was spotless, there was no sign of the girl. Remembering she also had stable duty, I made my way through winding hallways to the night-darkened stable. When I flipped on the stable light I froze.

About two-thirds was just as I had left it that morning - disgusting. But that one third of it was absolutely spotless. There were no stray pieces of hay, no muddy footprints, no green pond scum in the water troughs. Even the manure forks had been cleaned. I noticed that the horses' coats looked more vibrant thatn usual, then realized they must have been filthy.

I heard a faint bout of muttering coming from a stall.

"Sure, use a fucking pitchfork to muck stalls, you absolute fucking dimwits. See how far it gets you."

I found her mucking my horse's stall with my horse tied to the hitching post in the middle of the aisle.

"I trust you're getting along well enough alone out here," I said. She looked up, then hesitated before remembering to salute. I dismissed it.

"Whoever you assign to stable duty should never touch a horse," she said bluntly. "This place is disgusting." She stuck her manure fork into a pile of shit and sighed.

"And may I ask why my horse is tied in the middle of the aisle?" I asked.

"He was getting in the way," she answered, then looked back down at the stall floor. "Do you mind if I work while I talk to you? I'd like to get this stall done before lights out." I motioned for her to go ahead, and she dug under the final pile of shit.

"How do you know how to do this so well?" I asked. She sighed but answered.

"I had evening barn duty back in my colony," she said. "I learned from my family." She forked the pile into a wheelbarrow that was stationed by the stall door, then exited the stall to wheel it to the dump pile outside the stable. I followed her in concealed awe.

"Is that all you're going to do tonight?" She sighed and shook her head before wheeling the wheelbarrow to its station in front of my horse's stall.

"I've still got to put new shavings in this stall," she said, pointing to my horse's stall, "which entails getting all the old wet shavings out. And I've also got to groom up that horse."

"I see," I said. I stood there for a moment, just watching her use the large metal shovel to scrape all the remaining shavings from the stall. "Do you need any help?" She stopped moving, then raised her head and quirked a brow.

"What's the ulterior motive?"

"I don't always have an ulterior motive, Reaper. I'd just like you o be able to bathe yourself before lights out. You're disgusting." She scoffed.

"Well, thank you, kind sir. And yes, I could use a bit of help." She scooped the last of the shavings into the wheelbarrow and leaned the shovel against the stall's doorway. "Would you mind wheeling this out to the dump pile?" she asked. I shook my head and grabbed the handles, leaving her to groom my horse as I crossed the threshhold out of the stable.

Hanji leaned against the siding of the stable, a smirk plastered on her face. She had obviously been waiting for me.

"Well, what do you know?" she cackled. "Shorty taking requests?"

"Shut up, Shitty Glasses," I told her wearily.

"Hey, it's okay. I won't tell anyone you're falling hopelessly in love with the girl." I tried to keep my face emotionless.

"You're an idiot, Hanji," I said as I began walking the wheelbarrow to the massive dump pile at the treeline. "I just don't want her to be unshowered for tomorrow. She starts training with me and I don't want her to smell."

"Suuure," Hanji drawled, then ruffled my hair affectionately.

"Don't do that," I spat, fixing my hair, then wheeled the huge pile of shit in the wheelbarrow over to the even bigger pile of shit at the treeline. I dumped it from the wheelbarrow's basin and began dragging it back to the barn.

"I'm going back to my lab now, Shorty!" Hanji called after me. "Don't miss me too much!"

"Don't worry," I muttered. "I won't."

When I got back to the barn I found Reaper gently brushing my horse with short, sharp motions. A cloud of dust had risen from its hair and was settling onto its ass. But what caught my attention wasn't the filth; what I noticed first about the encounter were the sounds resonating from her figure.

She was humming some unintelligible song, but the way her voice came sweetly from her throat... it was something else. She somehow managed to flawlessly hit every note, even without singing actual words. I snapped myself out of the trance she had put me in and coughed.

"Oi, brat!" I called. "Are you going to groom my horse or serenade him?" She turned beet red and mumbled a garbled "sorry." Then she turned to pull a hoofpick from the brush bucket.

"Brat," I addressed her. She looked up from her task of picking up on of the horse's legs.

"Yes, sir?"

"How much experience do you have with horses?" I asked.

"I did barn work in the womb," she answered, head turning back to her task as she picked at the built-up shit crusted to the inside of my horse's left front hoof. "I have all the experience with horses."

I sighed, resigning myself to the fact that I would have to ask someone a favor.

"Would you like to be in charge of stable duty?" She looked up at me, shock evident on her face.

"What?"

"Did I fucking stutter?"

"No, sir," she said, a grin beginning to break out on her face. "I'd love to be in charge of this."

"Good. You start tomorrow after your training," I said. "Take a few days to get this place clean, and then teach the Cadets how to do it properly."

"Absolutely."


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Peaper's POV

One Week Later

"WHAT THE FUCK!?"

Cold water hit my head and I bolted straight up, thrashing in my sheets. I looked around wildly until my eyes landed on a figure holding a bucket.

Levi.

I ran my hands over my face and muttered a string of curse words into them.

"You certainly are a deep sleeper," he said evenly. I shot him the nastiest glare I could muster.

"It takes a special kind of asshole to wake me up like that," I spat, then tried to control my temper before he gave me laps.

"You look like a wet cat," was all he said before walking to the door and leaving. Immediately after he left the bubbling form of Hanji Zoe burst through the door and into the dungeon where I slept.

"Rise and shine, Reaper!" she yelled. I groaned.

After wringing out my shirt into the drain in the center of the floor, I was violently stripped of my pants.

"Mother of fucking Christ!" I screeched, fumbling to pull the jeans back over my ass.

"Don't give me that, Reaper. We're making you pretty for Corporal Shorty today and we need to get you changed as quickly as possible if we want time!"

"Absolutely not, Hanji!"

I dodged another one of her attacks and bolted to the bathroom, slamming the door in her face and turning the lock. I was safe. For now.

While in the bathroom I pulled off my sleep clothes and quickly buttoned up my new uniform, trying hard not to let my eyes linger on my left wrist. I hastily yanked the left sleeve down past my palm and pulled on my pants. When it came to putting on the 3DMG I somehow managed to buckle it all correctly in less than five minutes. And all the while Hanji had been pounding at the door like a zombie separated from its fill of human flesh.

"Reaper!" she whined. "Just let me make you pretty for Shorty!"

"There is no need!" I shot back through the door, buckling the strap on my boot.

"Come on! I've been trying to set him up with someone for ages and you are perfect for him!"

I flung open the door with my foot while putting my hair in a bun.

"I am not perfect for him. We can hardly stand each other."

"I wouldn't say that," Hanji cooed, waggling her eyebrows.

"Well, I would." I finished tying off my hair and started for the door.

Ever since that day in the stable when Levi had given me free reign (pardon the pun) over it I had settled into a routine of heavy training, lunch, and then cleaning the stable. It was a far cry from my previous routine of school, home, and tae kwon do, - it was even harder. The only thing about living in Attack on Titan that I found easier than in my dimension was social interaction. I understood the people in this dimension: Hanji was outgoing and bubbly, while Levi was dark, sarcastic, and forceful. Those two were really the only ones I had talked to up until then, but that was about to change. After training I was scheduled to begin instructing the Cadets who had stable duty that day on how to properly clean the stables, and I was not looking forward to it.

Training went far too fast for my liking, as did lunch. Before I could blink I was standing before a line of five Cadets in the middle of the stable, all ready to learn the way of the manure fork. The worst part was that Levi stood in the back corner leaning against a stall door, watching me.

"Um... so..." I trailed with a nervous laugh. I heard Levi's signature "tch" from the corner of the room and supressed the urge to flip him off. "I suppose you all know why you're here." The five Cadets nodded. "Well... just go ahead and get started and I'll correct you when you mess up."

To nobody's surprise Jean and Eren were among those who had stable duty. They both begrudgingly grabbed manure forks and began to halfheartedly scrape the shit from the stall floors.

"Kirstein!" I called, nearly sprinting to where he and Jeager were "cleaning" the stalls. "Not like that! You're just gonna cover up the piles like that."

I grabbed the manure fork from his hand and, after making sure Jeager was looking, pushed the fork under the pile and lifted.

"Like that," I said, picking up the entire pile in one go and dumping it in the wheelbarrow. "Now you try, Kirstein."

He pushed under the next pile and lifted, somehow managing to drop several pieces in the process of dumping them in the wheelbarrow.

"That's okay. Just be sure to get all the strays," I said. "Did you see that, Jeager?" He nodded. "Good."

Stable duty, surprisingly, went fairly quickly, with me only having to make minor corrections to the Cadets' cleaning habits. I gathered that the main reason the stable had ended up so dirty in the first place was that nobody had cleaned up after themselves in years. That or I hadn't encountered the really shitty cleaners yet.

When all the Cadets had gone I took it upon myself to groom the horses. I lead the first horse to the hitching post and tied her up, then went hunting for the bucket of grooming supplies.

"They're idiots, aren't they?" Levi's voice said rather than asked. For no reason at all I felt a shiver run down my spine.

"I think most people are idiots," I said, finally finding the bucket. "But they were fairly decent cleaners."

"Then why are you cleaning up after them now?"

"I'm not," I said. "I'm grooming the horses."

"They don't need grooming every night, do they?" I shook my head in response.

By this time we were back at the horse, me placing the bucket on the ground and fishing a curry from its depths.

"You don't really have to, but it's relaxing. Not only to me but to the horses as well."

"Teach me."

I nearly dropped the brush.

"Excuse me?" I squeaked.

"I said teach me, you dimwit."

"I heard you the first time."

"Then why did you say 'excuse me?'"

"To give you a chance to change your mind."

He let out a long breath.

"Just teach me, idiot."

"O-Okay," I stammered, still a bit shocked that he would ask me for help. I handed him the curry. "So, just start brushing and I'll correct you if you fuck up."

"Alright."

He took the curry and used it to make long, sweeping strokes along the horse's back. I immediately stopped him.

"Not like that," I said. "Brush in circles."

He looked at me and then back to the horse. Readjusting the curry in his hand he began making large circles that covered nearly the entirety of the horse's side.

"No. Smaller circles." He complied, but his motions were still too large.

"Here," I said.

I walked up behind him and gently placed my hand over top of his.

The barn was silent, with not even the whinny or stamp of a horse to break the quiet that had descended upon us. The only sounds that could be heard were that of the cicadas croaking in the setting sun's heat and of our own labored breathing. I was suddenly struck with the enormity of the situation: I stood behind him, breathing into his ear, touching his hand - like a lover.

"Like this," I said quietly, moving his hand in tiny circles along the horse's side. I could have sworn I heard his breath hitch.

Moving his hand along the horse's side I noticed how warm he was; even though he looked cold as the moon, he was warm as the sun. The calliced skin of his hand caught against the guitar callices on my fingers, the friction generating even more heat. I was sure I was blushing furiously, but, thankfully, Levi didn't look back to check.

"Oi, brat," he said stoicaly, breaking my reverie. "I've got it now."

I immediately retracted my hand and placed it behind my back, quickly ducking under the horse's neck to reach the bucket and, most importantly, hide the red heat that was blooming across my cheeks. I heard him give his signature "tch" from the other side of the horse.

"Your hand was all sweaty," he said over the unmistakable sound of him wiping his hand on his jacket.

"Sorry," I murmured. I fished a dandy brush from the bucket. "My hands are always pretty clammy."

"Disgusting," I heard him mutter under his breath. I couldn't help but snicker at his clean-freak tendencies. "Is something funny, Reaper?"

"You," I said bluntly.

"Do you find the human desire for cleanliness to be funny?"

"Yours, yes."

"Tch. I'm done with this thing," he said, holding up the curry brush. "What's next?"

I instructed him on how to finish the job, always careful not to touch him. Eventually he dismissed me for the evening, and I left, still a little shaken from my experience with guiding the Corporal's hand.


End file.
